


Astronomy in reverse

by alienmancy



Category: Muse (Band)
Genre: Friendship, Friendship/Love, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Teens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-09 21:45:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6924622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alienmancy/pseuds/alienmancy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Matt has trouble sleeping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. part one

Matt rolls onto his side and glares at the glowing red 8-bit numbers of his digital clock. 03:05. With a heavy sigh he heaves himself out of bed and clambers through his bedroom window and onto the roof.

Settling down onto his back with his arms behind his head, he turns his attention to the large expanse of sky before him. Eclipsed only by a few tree branches, the stars twinkle merrily. He lets out a huff.

Eventually he calms a bit, trying to push the thoughts keeping him awake out of his mind by counting the stars and searching for constellations. This only lasts so long.

With a sigh, he gives in and reaches for his phone. There's only one person he wants to talk to right now. And a majority of the time. But most especially right now. He suppresses the guilt of no doubt waking up said person by contacting him.

**03:14 – are you awake?**

_03:17 – yea. you ok?_

**03:18 – the sky is full of stars. the sea is full of fish. the earth is full of people. and i am alone.**

_03:24 – u on the roof??_

**03:24 – yes**

Not a minute later Matt hears a grunt accompanied by the vague outline of a figure hoisting itself up onto the roof. As the silhouette gets closer, Matt's eyes adjust to see Dom in flannel pyjama pants and his most comfy hoodie making his way towards him with a blanket in hand.

"Knew you'd be under-dressed," he says, eyeing Matt's t-shirt.

As Dom tucks the blanket around him, Matt looks over his features with a sigh. It's obvious he's only woken up as a result of the text. His hair is floppy and messy, his usually wide puppy eyes heavy with sleep and movements slow. _What an adorable twat_ , Matt thinks, putting his head back down with another sigh.

"Better?" He asks, motioning toward the blanket. Matt nods gratefully and he smiles. Dom lays down beside him and his eyes trace patterns in the stars. Matt already feels more relaxed just watching him in silence.

"You alright?"

Dom's voice finally cuts through the quiet, calm but not loud. His timbre has always been something Matt's admired – bright, clear and melodic, nice to fall asleep to. A sharp contrast to his own quick (and admittedly slightly impedimented) mumbling that only people he's well-acquainted with can understand in full.

Matt examines the blanket wrapped around him – it's Spiderman – for several seconds before responding.

"Have you ever thought about the impossibility of completely knowing another person, or another person knowing you? No matter how well someone thinks they do, it's not actually possible to understand exactly how you feel and think." It's more a statement than a question, and Dom treats it as such. He gives Matt a long indecipherable look while chewing on his bottom lip before returning his gaze to the dark sky.

"I'm not going to try and change your mind because you're right and you have every reason to think about it like that, so instead I'll just tell you how I look at it. You're you and I'm me. We certainly don't think the same way. No person thinks about things exactly the same as another. For me it means when I don't know what you're thinking, I want to know. But I want to hear it in your words and I want you to explain it to me. You have a lot of odd thoughts and opinions Bellamy, but that's you, and it wouldn't be the same if I always knew just what you were on about. Where's the fun in that?"

"I know what you mean Dom. The whole individuality thing. It's important and valuable," Matt says, tugging on one of the strings of Dom's hoodie.

"So what is it then that's bothering you?" He asks gently.

"It makes me feel alone," Matt begins slowly. "You know I'm not very religious, but I can understand religious omniscience in this sense. The idea of an all-knowing god is appealing. Comforting, I imagine. To believe that there is a divine being aware of everything you think and feel, but still considers you worth something; an unconditional relationship. I don't know... I am small and insignificant. I spend so much time outside of myself. Assessing myself and questioning myself. I'm too fucking self-aware Dom. It's exhausting."

He doesn't respond immediately, choosing to burrow under the blanket with Matt instead, pressing against his side. It's not until Matt's quiet "no one would ever love the real me," that he turns a steady gaze onto him and opens his mouth.

"I've known you for what, seven years –"

"That's not what I –"

"No shush, it's my turn. I've known you for seven years. You are my best friend. I've seen you sad, angry, happy, jealous, drunk, anxious – you name it, I've seen it. We've had countless conversations in that time, about countless numbers of things. It might feel like actual, proper relationships with anyone, and of any sort, are impossible, because it isn't possible to completely know someone. But I've spent a lot of time with you. You are the real you Bells, and I'm the real me. No human knows where we came from, what this all means, or what happens after death. I do know that this, you and me, is something important to us though, and I don't know what it means, or what anything else means, but I'm still here and I still love you. That's not going to change, you understand?"

Matt can't help the smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I understand, Dom."

"Good,"he replies, deciding to use Matt's shoulder as a pillow. "Besides, I think I know you reasonably well."

"Is that so?"

"Mmhmm."

"Go on, then."

"Well I know you shower with the water scalding hot. You drool when you sleep. You eat way too many bananas. You read entirely too much about conspiracy theories. Your fashion sense is questionable sometimes. You want to dye your hair – totally should, by the way, it'd look good. You're an incredible musician. You're a big fucking space nerd. Honestly, you're kind of a freak, Bells."

"Oi! That seemed like it was turning nice, but it just reverted back to insults."

Matt feels more than hear's Dom's responding laughter as his head lulls back on his shoulder, hair brushing against his neck. Then Dom's voice turns soft.

"You're passionate and intelligent. You care more than you let on. You're insecure about your singing voice but I promise you it's beautiful. Perfect for whatever type of music we play. You're funny, you make me laugh like no one else, and more kind then you realize. You're my favorite person in the world."

Matt tries to ignore the growing lump in his throat at Dom's words, opting instead to thread his fingers into the blonde's soft hair, waiting for his voice to return.

"You're my favorite too."

Dom grins at that, leaning up to press his nose against Matt's cheekbone.

"So tell me again what you think about aliens? I mean, clearly there's no way we're the only ones out here in an infinite universe. The gover–"

"Oh my god."

"What?"

Dom just laughs, sitting up.

"C'mon Bells, it's late. D'you think you'll be able to sleep now?"

Matt nods and Dom stands, helping him to his feet.

"Want to sleep over at mine after school tomorrow?"

"Course."

"Great! Well... I guess I'll see you in a few hours." He gives a brief grimace at that before easily transitioning back into a smile. "Get some rest, I can see your eye bags from here."

"Hey!" Matt says, trying to slap his arm. Dom quickly grabs his hand and holds it instead, leaning closer. Matt's suddenly thankful for the dark and Dom's hopeful inability to see the blush steadily warming his cheeks.

"Night Matt," he says quietly, lips brushing sweetly against Matt's forehead.

"Night," Matt manages to stutter after Dom's already turned on his heel, climbed down, and began heading back towards his house. Matt hears him let out a chuckle –the bastard – and Matt curses at himself before climbing into his room through the window.

He's changed his mind. Dom's actually his least favorite person in the world.


	2. part two

Matt jolts awake to the sound of clicks and beeps. It's pitch black, but being the middle of the night that isn't exactly odd. He immediately recognizes the noise of everything shutting off – the power had gone out. Expecting it to come back on in a few minutes like it normally does, the brunette settles back down against the pillows. He glances over at the blonde next to him, but all he can make out is a dark lump shaped vaguely like Dom.

Shuffling closer to his best friend, Matt pulls the blankets up over his face and tries to be reassured by Dom's gentle snoring. That is, until he starts hearing the wind.

It would be quiet for a little while, then suddenly burst forth in whooshing crescendos, making the trees groan and windows creak. He looks up at the ceiling, imagining the sky looks like it sounds – a twisting tornado pushing at the walls and roof of Dom's house. Matt calms down a bit when Dom rolls over in his sleep, pressing against Matt's side. 

It starts pouring. Rain pounds against the house from seemingly all sides and the window sounds suspiciously like it's going to fly open any minute. Is that thunder? Matt feels nervous again, bunching up the duvet in his hands. Going back to sleep now seems impossible.

"Sing, Bells."

Dom's voice, groggy with sleep, probably would've given Matt a heart attack if it hadn't been such a welcome sound.

"Go on then," he continues as he pulls the blankets down from Matt's head, "It'll make both you and me feel better."

Starting off quiet but gradually growing in volume and confidence, Matt begins singing one of the songs he'd composed on the piano the other day. He hasn't worked out all the lyrics yet, so he makes them up as he goes, whatever pops into his head and fits the melody. Dom doesn't appear to mind, he just rolls onto his side facing Matt.

Blinking sleep out of his eyes, Dom tries desperately to see through the dark. Scooting closer he is finally able to make out the outline of Matt. The fluffy haired nerd is on his back, hands still clutching the top of the blanket, but his eyes are closed and his face seems relaxed as his singing drifts off more into humming.

As both sets of eyelids are getting heavy, a tree branch goes crashing to the ground outside somewhere nearby, resulting in a peace-shattering boom. Matt jumps in response, letting out a high-pitched and, Dom begrudgingly admits, cute squeak.

"Just a branch Matt," Dom says, reaching out to pat Matt's (who's trying to discretely shuffle closer) arm.

This time it's Dom who does the humming. He quietly begins the melody of Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major. He's probably butchering it terribly, but Matt hums appreciatively and inches even closer still until they're sharing a pillow and Dom can feel Matt's breath on his neck.

Naturally, just when he's settled down again, a booming clap of thunder resounds through the room, conjuring a desperate whimper from Matt's lips.

"Bells, c'mere," Dom says gently, spreading his legs and opening his arms.

Matt sinks into them gratefully, snuggling against his chest as Dom's arms wrap around his waist.

"Don't ever get taller. I want you to always fit just like this," Dom whispers.

"Mmm," Matt hums in agreement.

Dom absentmindedly rubs a hand up Matt's warm back, tracing vertebrae from the base of his spine to his delicate shoulder blades and down again. He's distracted by Matt's slightly hitched breathing as it blows puffs of warm air against his neck. Suddenly he feels a brush of Matt's lips against his sensitive skin and can't hold bad the soft gasp he lets out.

Dom's hoping Matt didn't notice, but it's not looking good. Matt's shifting, pushing up from his chest and balancing on his elbows, looking down at Dom curiously.

It's gotten light enough in the room for Matt to see relatively clearly. Everything is bathed in soft black, but he can finally look at Dom properly.

And he seems like he's trying to avoid meeting Matt's gaze. His breathing has sped up, Matt can feel his chest rising and falling rapidly underneath him.

Matt's having none of it. He puts a hand against Dom's cheek before he can turn his head and Dom finally looks at him. His pupils are blown wide and a light pink dusts his cheekbones. Matt can't help the smile spreading across his face.

He leans closer, watching as Dom gulps, his adam's apple bobbing with the action. Unable to prolong it anymore, Matt presses his lips to Dom's, softly but surely, before leaning back to gauge his reaction. Dom answers his unasked question though, reaching up to tangle his fingers in the dark hair, bringing Matt's lips back to his eagerly. Then Dom's lips are parting underneath Matt's and they're kissing properly and it's with his best friend and it should feel weirder but it feels anything but weird in fact it's as effortless as their friendship and the real question is why did they never do this before. Then Dom's tongue is in his mouth and it's sliding warm against his and what the fuck where did Dom even learn to kiss like this. But as one of Dom's hands move from his hair to underneath his shirt to press against his lower back and bring Matt even closer, Matt's brain effectively shuts off and the only thing that matters is the boy underneath him.

After a few minutes or maybe a few hours Matt finally pulls away, gasping for air. He buries his face into Dom's t-shirt, inhaling the familiar scent as he feels both his and Dom's heartbeats begin to slow.

"Was that weird?" Matt asks finally, voice muffled, praying to every god that it felt as right to Dom as it did to him.

Dom tugs lightly on Matt's hair in response, and Matt gives in, knowing he wants Matt to look at him.

"Matt..." Dom starts, stroking Matt's cheekbone with his thumb and trying to find the right words.

Giving up, he simply says "It was perfect. You're perfect. Besides, that's always where we were heading, wasn't it?"

Matt's answering smile is breathtaking. "Yeah, it was."

He snuggles back down against Dom's chest happily.

"Love you Dom."

"Love you too, Bells."

They lay together peacefully for a while, but eventually Matt's mind starts whirring again.

"Does it scare you?"

"Hmm?"

"Getting older."

"Sometimes...but I think the future is exciting right now," Dom starts, reaching for Matt's hand and lacing their fingers together. "Maybe it will when we're getting into our forties. Ten years from now though - it's you and me and Chris playing the biggest stadiums in the world every night. And everything in between? Well I can't wait for it."

Matt giggles and buries his nose in Dom's collarbone before sitting up suddenly, face serious.

"Thank you for asking me to join your band, Dom," Matt says softly, never more aware of how much he means it.

"Thanks for saying yes," Dom replies, smoothing the crease in Matt's forehead with his fingers.

"We'll be alright."

"Yeah, we will."

**Author's Note:**

> title from a song called venus by sleeping at last.


End file.
